Flexible blackboard



F. RUSSELL.

FLEXIBLE BLAGKBOARD.

(No Model.)

Patented May 25, 1886.

N1 FEIERS. Phulo'lifihagrmphor, Washingmn. D. C.

U ITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK RUSSELL, OF MANSFIELD, OHIO.

FLEXIBLE BLACKBOARD.

SPECIFICATION forming par. of Letters Patent No. 342,762, dated May 25, 1886.

Application filed October 28, 1885.

.To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FRANK RUssELL, re siding in Mansfield, in the county of Richland and State of Ohio, have invented a new and useful Blackboard, of which the following is a specification.

Hy invention is an improvement upon anything of the kind in that, first, it is portable, beingso lightthat itis placed easily in any part of a room, or can be put into a box or parcel for handling as luggage; second, it has far greater extent of surface than any movable blackboard made; third, it is adjustable, will stand with equal facility against the wall or in the clear; fourth, the reel principle, which has never before been applied in the construction of a blackboard, secures important facilities, besides the superior extent of surface, in the way of, first, securing better display, as it elevates the work high above the audience; second, enabling the work to be easily obscured and again exposed to view, so often desirable in drilling classes; third, by bringing any part directly at hand it relieves the operator from either stretching up to make the top or stooping to make the bottom available; fourth, securing a softer surface for the chalk, easier for use, and tending much to its durability. I attain these objects by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a perspective View; Fig. 2, a vertical section taken between the side supports; and Fig. 3 is a horizontal section of the blackboard through the center of its thin board backing.

' In the said drawings the letter A designates standards supported by braces B, pivoted or hinged thereto. Upon the standards A are mounted two parallel rollers, O and D, the one at or near the top, and the other below and near the lower ends of said standards. Upon these rolls is stretched an endless band, E, of any suitable fabric, preferably the slated cloth often used for wall-blackboards.

The back proper of the board for twentyseven inches below the junctionof the braces Serial No.181,202. (Ndmodeld is made of thin boards F, the ends of which fit a groove, f, in the frame, held in place by an adjustable strip, 6, which is secured by thumb-screws d, (seen in the drawings.) The frame of this back, both above and below the twentyseven inches of the back proper, terminates with a metal socket on each side, to which the rest of the frame is securely adjusted, the lower part being made firm by a bar, G, fitting the posts inside and firmly secured to them by a th umb-sc1'ew, at each end,which passes through the post and enters a burr sunk in the bar. At the extreme top the ends of the side posts or frame terminate with a slot, a, made firm with a metal band, in which plays the end of the roller 0, made firm by thumbscrews. Around this roller plays the endless fabric E, over eight feet in length, double, and four feet in breadth. The fabric is the slated cloth often used for wall-blackboards. This fabric is lapped at the ends and hem-sewed,that it may play easily about the roller at the top. This fabric can be cut and spliced for a board on this principle of any desired shape or dimensions.

\Vhat I claim is 1. A blackboard consisting of an endless fabric or band stretched upon rolls mounted upon standards, and a backing adj ustably mounted upon said standards and underlying a portion of the fabric, substantially as described.

2. In a blackboard, the combination, with a fabric of slated cloth or other suitable material, of a rigid backing adjustably mounted beneath and giving support to a portion of said fabric, substantially as described. 3. In a blackboard, the combination, with the standards, of the rolls supported thereon, the endless band of fabric stretched upon said rolls, the rigid backing F, thunib-screws d, and strip e, substantially as described.

FRANK RUSSELL.

\Vitn esses:

FREDK. K. TRACY, S. E. J ENNER. 

